Cardiff City 2-3 Crystal Palace

Brave Cardiff City fought hard but ultimately came up shy as a 3-2 home defeat to Crystal Palace confirmed their relegation.

The Bluebirds knew they desperately had to win the game to stand any chance of overhauling Brighton and avoiding an immediate return to the Championship.

They had plenty chances but lacked composure in front of goal at times but Martin Kelly’s own-goal on 31 minutes gave hope to Neil Warnock’s side as that cancelled out an opener from Wilfried Zaha three minutes earlier.

Michy Batshuayi restored the Palace advantage before the interval and Andros Townsend extinguished the hopes of the home side with 20 minutes remaining.

Warnock will be left wondering what might have been had Josh Murphy’s shot gone in the second minute as Cardiff looked to make the perfect start.

Their cause was further blighted when Victor Camarasa went off injured after 11 minutes.

Palace were comfortable after that and man of the match Zaha gave them the lead.

The winger combined with Townsend before hammering a low shot from the edge of the area past Neil Etheridge.

The home side got a boost soon after when confusion between Kelly and goalkeeper Vicente Guaita led to the defender slicing a cross from sub Leandro Bacuna into his own net.

Zaha was involved again as he combined with Luka Milivojevic to tee up Batshuayi for a neat finish.

The home side were brave after the interval, creating several decent chances but they lacked a composed finisher in front of goal when it mattered as Danny Ward and Sean Morrison were denied.

Disaster struck on 70 minutes when Townsend cut in off the left flank and fired a low shot in off the base of the post to make it 3-1.

The Cardiff fans defiantly chanted for their side but there was only minor consolation on offer when Bobby Reid curled a shot into the net from 16-yards as the game entered stoppage time.